Does anyone really want to read this?

Thank you to everyone who was so concerned about me during the hurricane. We came out of it relatively unscathed. We lost power for 2 days, lost landline phones and wifi until yesterday, but other than that everything was fine. We really got very lucky.

Hi everyone. I realize it's been a long time since I visited LJ. Life is busy, unfortunately.

I'm well, though scared about Hurricane Irma. At the moment it's heading to the western part of Florida, while I live in the east, so maybe we'll catch a break. I'm expecting high winds and blackouts no matter what. Please keep all of us Floridians in your thoughts and prayers.

It's funny, my cousin lives in Houston, and he was perfectly fine throughout Hurricane Harvey. No winds, no flooding, never even lost power. I'm hoping he's sending his good luck our way.

I've been slammed with a real twofer this week. Today is the 10th anniversary of my mom's death. I was anticipating a lot of grief, which is certainly there. I still miss her so much. But I'm somewhat distracted by the fact that the right half of my face is partially paralyzed.

Bell's Palsy, it's called. I got an earache Friday evening, and it lasted all through Sunday afternoon. That's when I noticed that I was having trouble eating my lunch. My mouth just wasn't working right. I ran to the mirror and I tried opening it wide, but only the left side would move. Same with smiling. And I could close my right eye, but not squeeze it shut. I called Dad, who was in Miami, and he moseyed his way home. We got the ER about 4:30.

They took me right away, and the admitting nurse said she didn't think it was Bell's, just sinitis. Boy, was she wrong. The doctor took one look, told me to lift my eyebrows, and said, "yep, Bell's." They did a CT scan and bloodwork just to be sure it wasn't a stroke. Which it wasn't, thank God. Eventually one unnecessary IV and three hours later, I was released with prescriptions for a prednisone and an anti-viral. Unfortunately by the time we got close to home, it was past 8 and the only 24 hour pharmacy open was Walgreen's, which, of course, doesn't take my insurance plan.

Dad went out first thing this morning to CVS with the scrips, and they filled them right away. I started them as soon as I woke up. Unfortunately the Prednisone is likely to affect my blood sugar, not great for a diabetic. I saw my endocrinologist last Tuesday,and my A1C dropped down to 5.8, which if you know anything about diabetes, is amazing for someone who's been diabetic for 30 years. In other people, that would be a pre-diabetes number. I don't want to wreck that.

Anyhow, here I am. Eating is somewhat difficult, but not impossible. I just have to remember to cut anything I want to put into my mouth; I tried bite into a bagel this morning and ended up with a face full of cream cheese. Talking is awkward, too. I'm going to try to be silent- I look weird. This condition can take anywhere from a week to six months to pass. With the diabetes, I have a compromised immune system, it takes me much longer to heal than other people. So if you good send so prayers and good wishes my way, I'd really appreciate it.

My aunt's funeral is tomorrow at 2. She's not biologically my aunt; she's the wife of my father's lifelong best friend. She was a high school friend of my mom. They lost touch, and then ran into each other on the bus one day. Fredi (my aunt) got the idea to set her old friend and her new husband's best friend on a blind date. Obviously it worked out.

She took a bad fall the day before Thanksgiving. She's very large, and she'd had problems with her back and legs for a long time. She refused to go for the tests (MRI, in particular), so when she fell she broke a number of vertebrae. While she was in the hospital they tried to do the MRI, but she was in so much pain she couldn't make it through a single time, even when they sedated her. Eventually the realized she had some kind of cancer. They still aren't sure what kind; multiple myeloma seems to be their best guess.

After a couple of weeks they transferred her to a rehab, but she was getting worse and worse. She could barely move, and her mental acuity seemed to go in and out. Sometimes she made perfect sense, other times she was completely out of it. Since her husband Eddie is distracted on a good day, all the medical decisions fell to their son, Jeff, who lives in Virginia. He has health problems of his own. He's been texting me constantly, and I've been trying to reassure him.

Finally, last weekend she was transferred to the hospice section of the hospital, where she fell into a coma. Dad and I went to visit her Wednesday morning. That afternoon she died. With Ed being such a mess, and their son not being able to get here until this morning, Dad has been trying to arrange the funeral. Ed's so out of it, though, that when they went to the funeral home this afternoon, he forgot to bring his checkbook to pay for the whole thing. (29,000 dollars, can you believe it?)

So everything's all set, the service is at 2, but well get there earlier for the sitting. I'm glad she's at peace, but this whole situation has left me completely depressed. Not only for the loss of my aunt, but because so much of the situation takes me back to my mother's illness and death. It'll be ten years since she passed, this February.